


truth, lies, & cabbages

by glass_icarus



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Chromatic Character, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-04
Updated: 2010-08-04
Packaged: 2017-10-14 08:52:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glass_icarus/pseuds/glass_icarus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Pu-On Tin's sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	truth, lies, & cabbages

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whymzycal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whymzycal/gifts).



_Pu-On Tin's sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage._

They're out buying ingredients for hotpot when Aang sees them: the most beautiful cabbages he could have imagined, sitting in the most dilapidated cart he's ever laid eyes on.

"Hey, Katara!" he shouts. "Take a look at these!"

The man rummaging behind the cart stands up abruptly. "Avatar Aang, is that you?"

Aang claps a hand to his forehead guiltily. "Oh, shoot. Did my hat slip? I'm sorry, please don't tell anyone, Toph's going to _kill_ me if I'm late again-"

"No, no, we've met before. Or rather, I suppose, _I've_ met _you_ ; you've merely met my cart. On multiple occasions."

"Huh?" Aang blinks, confused.

"Aang? What's going on?" Katara stops in front of the cabbage cart. "I'm sorry, but you look really familiar. Do we know you?"

"Actually, this man says-"

"- my name is Tai, actually-"

"- okay, _Tai_ , says we have met somewhere before. Multiple places. Except we've only met his cart."

Tai shakes his head indignantly. "Somehow, Avatar, you followed me like a plague. Everywhere I went in the Earth Kingdom, you were certain to appear! You were death to _two whole crops_ of my cabbages!"

"We... were?"

"In Omashu, I saw you careening down toward me in a runaway mail carrier just before it destroyed my cart, and then King Bumi's pet _thing_ proceeded to eat half of my cabbages! So I had my cart repaired and restocked my cabbages and went to Kyoshi Island, and there you were _again_! But the Fire Nation army arrived and pursued you through the town, and exploded my cart in the process."

Aang makes a formal bow. "Um... I'm sorry?" he tries.

"I certainly hope so!" sniffs Tai. "Because after that I didn't have enough money to hire a repairman, so I had to put the cart back together myself. The loading docks on Kyoshi Island were completely destroyed! It was three whole weeks before I could get more cabbages, and all of the ones I had were either charcoal or singed crispy. By the time I was finally set up, the Fire Nation army was on the move again! I had to make my way here to Ba Sing Se as a refugee, taking half of my remaining stock with me- and then that horrible woman at customs wouldn't let me take them in! She said there was danger of infestation by cabbage slugs!"

Katara blinks. "Why? They don't look diseased to me."

"Exactly! But nobody would listen to me, oh, no. We couldn't possibly have _effective_ pesticides outside of Ba Sing Se, could we? Never mind that when I got into the city, the local cabbages weren't nearly as healthy; I was only allowed to bring my cart. The cabbages were confiscated for animal feed. I had to have the rest of my stock imported, and I ended up paying three separate taxes on it!"

Aang executes a deeper bow. "I'm really sorry for your losses."

"Hmph!" says Tai. "That wasn't even the greatest of them. After I'd finally set up shop here, all the animals escaped from the zoo and demolished all of my cabbages! I had to wait out the rest of the year before my family's new harvest arrived."

"Wait," Katara says, turning. "That's- oh, Aang, tell me you didn't-"

"I'm really, _really_ sorry?" Aang says, grinning nervously from the general vicinity of his shins.

Katara smacks her forehead. "I should have _known_ that herding was involved when you said you 'built the animals a new facility!'"

"I humbly apologize for your loss, Merchant Tai, and I accept responsibility," says Aang, sweating a little. "Um... is there any way I can repay you?"

"Oh, you already have, Avatar. I'm earning royalties." Tai grins. "However, I wouldn't object if you wanted to buy some of my cabbages."

"Actually, that's what we came here looking for!" Katara selects three heads and tosses them to Aang, handing over the requisite coins. "Come on, Aang. We're going to be late, and you know what that means."

"Oh, no," Aang groans. " _Toph_."

"Thanks for the cabbages! It was, um, nice to finally meet you," Katara shouts as they break into a run.

It isn't until they return to the Jasmine Dragon, exhausted and out of breath, that they realize what royalties Tai was actually referring to.


End file.
